Muted Suspense
by CreativeAllie18
Summary: The team investigates the murder of a deaf woman in a classy neigborhood, but things get weird when the killer continues to attack, leaving less and less evidence, and more and more questions.
1. Chapter 1

"**Muted Suspense"**

If there was anything about Vegas that you couldn't forget, other than of course the casinos, it was the heat. Catherine Willows had the air conditioning in her car on full blast, and it didn't seem to be doing much. Catherine's hair was long and curly, pulled back in a high ponytail to keep it off of her neck, and she was wearing a lime green tank top with black boot cut pants. Catherine glanced wearily at the clock and seeing that it was already ninety-eight degrees and only just twelve o'clock. She flipped on her cell phone and hit the speed dial to call Brass. Brass was her favorite federal man. He helped her and her team put away the bad guys, and find places that they really needed to find.

"Brass," said a man into her ear after the second ring.

"Hey Brass, it's me. I'm just about pulling up to the house now," said Catherine as she was pulling onto the street where the body of the victim was found.

"Ok. See you shortly," said Brass and clicked off his phone. Catherine drove another two blocks down and then saw the caution tape across a driveway. The house was big obviously showing this to be a high classed residence. There was a gate that had been opened for the detectives to get in. Catherine parked her car and stepped out. She pretty much began to sweat instantly. Taking a deep breath she headed to her trunk to get her kit.

"Hello Mr. Summer," said Greg Sanders walking towards Catherine. Catherine lifted her head and smiled happily at Greg.

"Hey Greg, how's it going?"

"Well we have one victim. She was found in the driveway, but the evidence shows us that she was indeed dragged there from inside the house. Brass is talking to the neighbor who found the body this morning."

"Where are you working?"

"I've been working out here, collecting stuff on the body. Gris is working inside the house, looking around all the rooms along with Sara, and Warrick and Nick are out back."

"I'll head out back then and see if they need any help," said Catherine closing the trunk to her car. She smiled at Greg. Greg was a younger CSI who had just recently joined them in the field. His hair was untamable unless you had a huge bottle of hair spray, and he was charming. Greg followed behind Catherine in his white and blue tie dye shirt and denim pants. Greg stopped at the body and continued his work while Catherine continued down the path the backyard. In the backyard there was a miniature Jacuzzi, not surprising considering the style of living the people in this development had. Nick Stoke was bent over some plants that were lined along the fence. He was wearing a black shirt with denim pants as well. He smiled at Catherine as she walked over, and she smiled back then looked to see Warrick looking over the Jacuzzi.

"What have you got there Tiger?" asked Catherine watching as Warrick bagged some evidence. Warrick was tall and had darker skin. His eyes were a pretty blue color, and had a charming smile. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and black denim jeans.

"Well nothing yet. I just found a scrap of something by the Jacuzzi. Not sure what it could be though," said Warrick holding out the evidence bag. Catherine pulled on her work gloves and took the evidence bag from him. Inside was a piece of rubber with white residue on it.

"Well I have no idea. Unless maybe the gardener wears rubber boots when feeding the plants," said Catherine handing it back to Warrick.

"Yeah. Maybe. I was more concerned with what the white stuff is on the rubber." Catherine nodded. She set her kit down and began to work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

Greg leaned over the body and looked at the girl. She was young, maybe around the age of eighteen, and had long brown hair that flowed to her hips. She was wearing a black mini skirt with a white spaghetti strapped tank top, and had red lipstick on. She was laying on the pavement as though it was her coffin.

"What have you got for me David?" asked Greg looking at David who was writing on his notepad.

"She died of a single gunshot to the back of head. Her body temperature has dropped on a little, indicating that the time of death was probably two hours ago. There are some bruises on her shoulder indicating that she was probably held down. That's all I can really say for now, you'll have to send it over to Doctor Robins for a full report."

"Thanks David," said Greg bending down over the girl. Greg always hated when the victims were young. He hadn't been in the field that long, but he was still always sad when he saw the young ones. Greg took out a swab and swabbed the blood that was going along the path from the house.

"How's it going?" Greg turned around and saw Sara standing over him. Grissom came out shortly behind. Sara had short brown hair that was pulled into a pony tail. She was wearing a cap, and blue jeans. She bent down next to Greg and looked at the girl with a sad look on her face.

"Well we know that the time of death was about two hours ago, and that she died to a gunshot to the back of the head. There are also some bruises on her shoulders," said Greg watching as Grissom came and bent down on the other side. Grissom, being the oldest of the team, was also the wisest. He looked at the girl with curious eyes.

"Alright, the backyard doesn't have anything out of the ordinary, other than the piece of rubber with a white substance on it," said Nick coming around from the back along with Catherine and Warrick.

"Well we had some luck inside," said Sara standing up. "We found a shoeprint on the carpet, and we found a couple of fingerprints on the girl's coffee table."

"Well let's get her a full autopsy and then move from there. Where is Brass?" asked Grissom still looking at the girl.

"Right here. The girl who found her identified her as being a Susan Bones. She's eighteen and lives in the house. The neighbor was walking outside to get her newspaper, saw the girl, and called nine-one-one."

"Did she seem suspicious?" asked Sara.

"No, not to me. Although you guys are the ones looking at the evidence, you tell me."

"Sara and I didn't completely finish the inside," said Grissom standing up, "so we definitely need to continue in there. So Catherine and Warrick, you two go with the body and get the autopsy report done. Sara, Greg, and Nick, you guys come with me to finish looking around inside. Brass, you're welcome to come along." Catherine and Warrick nodded then headed off towards Catherine's car. Two men were lugging the body onto a stretcher and were taking her while Greg, Sara, Nick, and Grissom all headed inside.

The living room was wide and open. To their left there were two couches that were pushed together with a small coffee table in front of it. Slightly in front of the two couches were two armchairs, one on either side, and in front of the seating was a wide screen t.v. To the right besides the living room was the kitchen. There was a peninsula sitting in the front, then some tile to walk on between, then there was a refrigerator on the end, then countertop, a stove, and an oven. The water in the sink was still on and running.

"Maybe he washed off in the sink," said Greg walking over to the sink. Greg took out a swab and swabbed around the edge of the sink. He knew even though the water was washing away, there was most likely splatter and that some of the blood may have gotten on the sides while the murderer was washing their hands. Greg tested the swab and smiled.

"Well, is it blood?" asked Sara looking expectantly at Greg.

"Yes, it's blood."

"Even if it is blood, doesn't mean it's a match to our vic. We'll have to send it back to the lab," said Grissom. He walked around the living room, looking at the pictures of people that were placed on the wall. There was one of a young boy. He was laughing and licking a lollipop. Then there was another picture next to it that was the victim. She was smiling and had her arm wrapped around the shoulder of another girl. The girl had blonde hair that was long and curly like Catherine's and was smiling as well. Grissom looked closely at the mystery girl's eyes and saw that even though she was smiling, in her eyes you could see that she didn't really feel happy at all.

"Hey you guys, I think I got something," called Nick from another room. Grissom pulled away from the picture and headed to where Nick was, followed by Greg and Sara. They turned right and saw that Nick was standing the girl's bedroom. On the floor in front of her bed was a huge blood stain. The bed sheets were ripped back, and the things in her room were thrown all around. Sara walked over to one of the picture frames that was smashed on the ground and picked it up. The picture was of the victim with another boy.

"Hey I found something too," said Sara showing the picture to the three of them. Greg looked at it and said, "Perhaps an old boyfriend did this to her."

"Possibly."

"Why would you say that Greg?" asked Grissom looking at him with curious eyes.

"Well I mean that's a picture of the girl with another guy. If the vic was cheating on another guy that might lead to motive to kill her. He might have smashed the picture out of frustration."

"I see."

"I wonder if maybe they struggled," said Nick looking around the room. "The girl was shot from the behind, but maybe she fought first. Since the sheets are undone, perhaps her and her killer were in bed together, he tried to go too far, so she pushed him off. He got mad, they started a pushing match, she fell back into her desk, tried to run off, and he shot her in the back of the head."

"Now that Nick is a theory," said Grissom with a slight smile.


End file.
